


I'm Going to See You At The End of The World

by bennylucerne



Category: borderlands 2 - Fandom
Genre: AU, Angst, Axton & Angel friendship, Badass Angel, Canonical Character Death, Just lots of spoilers okay, M/M, Other, Spoilers for Borderlands 2, Spoilers for Borderlands The PreSequel, Violence, morally grey most of the time, oddly affectionate in places
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-21
Updated: 2016-12-18
Packaged: 2018-04-16 12:59:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4626171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bennylucerne/pseuds/bennylucerne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack fights for power with ruthlessness and insanity.<br/>Angel fights with a world that sees her as nothing but a power source.<br/>Axton hasn’t broken a promise yet and not even Pandora can stop him.<br/>-<br/>Or the fluffier summary:<br/>Axton singing goddamn bandit songs has now infected Angel and this is not what Jack signed up for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Let's March Boys

**Author's Note:**

> Re-written as of 10/02/16!
> 
> The previous version just didn't feel complete to me, so I'm re-writing all of the exisiting chapters so that the whole thing works a bit better.
> 
> Thank you so much for the kind words and patience!

#  **Chapter One: Let’s March Boys**

 

Axton has been to many places in his life, seen all sorts of fucked up things and done a fair few more. But hands-down, the ultimate worst thing ever is to wake up and see a fucking CL4P-TP unit in a frozen fucking wasteland.

“Son of a skag-fucking bastard!” Axton yells as soon as he has enough oxygen in his lungs to do so, despite the fact that it makes him cough like he’d been punched in the throat. But well, surviving a twisted joke of a call-out, being tricked and lied to about treasure and fame, and having a train blow up when you’re still kind of on it, will drive a person to swearing a little bit.

Also CL4P-TP. That is always more than enough reason for swearing.

His words are snatched away by the howling wind of the arctic tundra they’ve ended up in and his struggles to even breathe in, the air is so cold.

When one of the other Vault Hunters - the dangerously thin looking and helmet wearing Zer0 offers Axton a hand up, he takes it.

The Commando staggers to his feet and shudders and the pins-and-needles settle into his hands as blood starts to sluggishly flow into them again.The assassin's hand are shaking slightly as Axton squeezes them once in thanks before managing a smile.

“Well my chevron hurts like good god-damn because it’s fucking _brass moneys_ out here, but other than that I’m peaches. How’re you holding up?” He taps the metal in his head twice with a ‘what can you do?’ sort of smile.

A slightly flickering smiley face appears in front of the helmet which makes Axton laugh quietly. The Assassin looks like he won’t do well in the cold; not enough meat on his bones to keep him warm, but at least all of his extremities are covered.

Axton really wishes he had some gloves. He untucks his rolled up sleeves and tugs them down as far as they go and flexes his hands stiffly. The movement makes him wince, which fucking hurts in it’s own right because it makes his face contorts around the metal imbedded in his forehead; a burning that feels like the skin around the metal is melting.

The other Vault Hunters have been roused by CL4P-TP and Axton really didn’t expect them all to survive because there had been a lot of explosives in the train and a lot of people without shields.

‘ _Note to self; punch the next person who says “You won’t need a shield” in the face. With a shield unit._ ’ Axton thinks as he casts around in the snow, hoping one of the bodies will have something salvageable.

He comes up short and the only saving grace (because fuck his life) is that CL4P-TP has an ECHO unit and a place to stay.

Joy.

Axton has seen a lot in his short and bloody life; from military life to becoming a bandit mercenary and then this shit-show. He never really wanted to be a Vault Hunter, because it sounds fun and all but number 1 on the list of things Not To Do, is ‘Piss off Handsome Jack’, and becoming a Vault Hunter is pretty much the easiest way to do that.

“‘ _Take the job_ ’ he said. ‘ _It’ll be fun_ ’ he said.” Axton mutters as he trudges behind the robot, shoulders hunched over in a futile attempt to retain some warmth. The clacking of his teeth as he shivers sends him into silence as he continues to rant in his mind. ‘ _W_ _hat could you wrong when you work for a man who has, just a few days ago said “I am almost certainly positive that you’ll survive. Like, 60-ish percent. Rounded up. From 48 percent. Which was kind of generous now that I think about it Kiddo”. But hey whatever gets me my pay-cheque._ ’

Being forced to follow the most annoying robot on all of the planets is possibly the worst start to a day that he has ever had.

Admittedly, the walk to CL4P-TP’s place isn’t the hardest, and even though it’s a hell-hole of a place to live, anything is better than being stuck in the freezing wind.

Just when Axton thinks they might be able to start a fire and leech some of the ice from their blood, the whole crappy place shakes and the largest Bullymong Axton has seen swings into view.

It can’t be proven, but Axton is pretty sure no one really feels bad for the CL4P-TP. In fact, he is pretty sure that given a bit more time, he could convince them to just leave the useless hunk of junk behind, but the Gunzerker seems to have taken a kind sort of pity on the machine and Axton doesn’t want to make waves in the group.

When the whole KunckDragger - CL4P-TP eye fiasco is finally dealt with (dealt with being a loose summation because the stupid robot is still alive and now even more annoying than ever) and Axton really thinks the other Vault Hunters might come around to his suggestions of putting the robot down for the greater good of their own sanity.

Especially when CL4P-TP can’t open the door that blocks their way to Liarsberg. Zer0 flicks his sword and Axton smiles at the assassin, spinning his axe in agreement.

“Are we sure there’s no way around it?” Maya asks, but Axton hears the beep that signifies an incoming ECHO on his private line.

He unobtrusively moves away from the others just in time to hear, “Wow Pumpkin. I leave you alone for half a day and you already need my help? That’s kind of pathetic.”

Axton frowns in annoyance, but before he can respond, Handsome Jack continues, “Well never let it be said I’m not generous. Angel! Open the door for Axton and his new friends!”

“Let me get that for you.” The woman’s voice that comes from the panel makes them all turn to stare as the door opens.

Angel continues to talk, but Axton focuses on Jack who has started speaking again, “Now get going Axton. And remember, keep me in the loop Kiddo; a lot is resting on you fooling these idiots.”

After Jack disconnects, Angel says softly on the same private line, “Jack has eyes on you and I will do as much as possible, but you’re on your own mostly.”

Axton lefts the others go ahead in front of him, so that he can raise two fingers in a mock salute. As he follows his new companions, the Commando begins to sing.

“ _Let’s March boys,_

 _Let’s March boys_ …”

-

The ship finally docks (read: crashes against land and CL4P-TP declares a perfect docking) and Axton has never been more happy to get away from the robot.

That's not to say that he hasn't enjoyed his time getting to know the other Vault Hunters on the journey.

Salvador got terribly seasick and moaned about how he was a desert person, not a sea and ice person.

Maya on the other hand absolutely loved the colder temperatures, once she had re-appropriated some gear to stave off the cold a bit better. Axton had given her his jacket because he had a frost shield and knew from experience that while not the best solution,  it would keep him from freezing to death.

Zer0 was surprisingly sluggish for the journey. Axton couldn't decide if it was because machines really don't do well in the cold or if it was because really thin people don't do well in the cold. Either way, Axton thought that the sooner they got away from snow and ice the better.

 

The four of them have been living in close quarters for a while now and nothing forms bonds quite like living together (and a mutual hatred of CL4P-TP). Still Axton can't help but miss having his own space to just talk to his friends; something he really _really_ can't do in front of this lot. Getting to know people doesn't mean trusting them. That and his friends are either A)  a secret, or B) infamous as fuck and just knowing her is shady as good-goddamn.

Of course as soon as they get onto land what happens?

Roland, the fearsome, brave and strong leader of the Crimson Raiders gets kidnapped.

Axton can just hear Nisha laughing at him from Lynchwood, can feel Angel's sympathy and can hear the glee in Jack's voice as he preaches about how he's making the world a better place (lies all lies he's just waiting to burn the world and raise his image from the ashes).

Axton rather pointedly doesn't think about how he ended up running around trying to save the leader of the people he's trying to destroy because he made peace with his choices in life about so many years ago. That and he is firmly in the belief that " _Fuckit I'm gunna do it anyway_ " is normally the best choice/answer in any situation.

 -

They've set up camp for the night in a bandit outpost they've cleared out in the Frozen Wastes and Salvador is on first watch, so Axton takes this opportunity to put enough distance between himself and the others that he can open an ECHO link.

Before he can get any further than taking a deep breath,  Jack speaks.

"I swear to god Kiddo you want to think really  fucking carefully about it what comes out of your mouth. "

Axton pauses, nods,  thinks 'Fuckit I'm gunna do it anyway' and starts to sing.

" _There’s a woman in the house with a voice so sweet_

 _that it soothes the sleeping  demon beneath her feet..._ "

Jack sighs like he is painfully disappointed by Axton's existence, "You are the worst fucking person I know which is saying a lot. I own Hyperion. I've spent time with Nakamura."

"Ouch." Axton clutches his chest like the words wounded him "So mean Jack."

"Well now Pumpkin, I know that my voice is irresistible, but was there actually a reason for this little _tête_ -à- _tête_?"

"You know the Bloodshots have him."

"And if they kill him then you'll still be let in because you tried so hard to save him and everyone loves a martyr."

"... You gotta be dead to be a martyr."

"Well maybe we'll be lucky and you'll finally kick it."

"Wow. That's not childish at all. Back me up Angel."

There is a muffled snort of laughter from the teenager, "Ah, no I am not getting in the way of your squab - uh argument!"

She has to almost yell the last word as Jack makes a loud disapproving noise and Axton chokes on his own laughter.

"Well. Nice to know my loyal employees are so respectful. " Jack makes a show of sounding offended.

Axton laughs harder, but manages to gasp "The fuck - we ain't your employees.  You don't even pay us!"

Jack makes and even louder noise of indignation and Angel actually laughs.  It's a sound they don't hear that often these days.

That thought sobers Axton and the smile falls from his face. He can't remember the last the three of them laughed and joked together. He can't  even remember the last time they had ECHOed so many times in so few days.

While he'd been enlisted their contact had been much more sporadic;  maybe once a month at best and even then just snatches of a conversation.

No, it wasn't until his rather unexpected departure from the military that he started to spend more time with them again.

Angel mutters something about sleep and clicks off the line, leaving Axton and Jack in silence.

Axton doesn't mind.

He leans back on the roof he'd made his way on top of, bracing his arms against the metal so that he can stare up at the sky. He can't avoid seeing Helios in orbit and wonders where Jack is. Is still working in his office as time has no meaning in space and he loves standing in front of the massive windows, observing the planet he sees as his? Or is he resting in his lavish quarters, stretched out across one of the supple leather sofas, wine glass in one hand, glasses perched on his his nose as he reads a report and lazily track's Axton's progress?

Axton sighs. "Gotta go and break bread with the enemy. Night Jack."

"Don't - " the word sounds rushed, unusual for Jack's normally composed taunting, "Don't go getting attached. Joke all you want about your fucking pay but you - you are mine."

Axton laughs, a harsh mockery of the previous amusement. "Never been anything else, huh?"

He disconnects the call, closes his eyes and sighs deeply. Then he shakes himself and clambers down to join the others.

-

(Then)

Axton and Angel met each other properly on her 15th birthday.

Technically he’s known her since birth, but he hadn’t seen her since her second birthday and he didn’t think she even remembered him as she never appeared in any of the ECHO messages since.

 It was just past mid-morning and Axton had managed to drag himself out of his hotel room in Concordia. He had maybe 7 hours before the shuttle was scheduled to take him up to the giant (and kind of garish) Helios space station, which was just enough time to get seriously fucked up on some Elpis special brew.

Axton wanted to get past the ‘fuck my marriage ended what the fuck’ stage, and get into the ‘fuck everything and _fuck_ everything’ stage.

 His heart was doing its best to repair itself by patching itself back together with alcohol. At 21 he had been married for three years and then in one conversation divorced, court martialed, dishonourably discharged and advised to go AWOL. He’d consider it quite a feat if he wasn’t so stupidly heartbroken.

 He had the ring in his hand, staring at it as he thought about just throwing it off the roof of the station, when a crying teenager ECHOed him.

“Dad says I can’t stay here any longer,” She hiccuped the words over the Echo and Axton froze, “I’m not even supposed to call him Dad anymore and I just can’t - “

“Um.” Axton blinked and looked down at the Rakk-ale bottle, then to the ring in his hand. He slipped the chain back around his neck and took a swig, “What?”

“Supposed to call him Sir.” Her voice wavered again and she sobbed “It’s my birthday and all he cares about are the stupid Vaults!”

Axton’s nails dug into his palm and he spits “The **fuck** did Jack do? Angel what’s wrong?”

Angel didn’t respond, she only sobbed harder

He took a long breath and sighed it out before saying in a gentle voice, “Happy birthday Angel.”

It was the wrong/right thing to say; her breath hitched again and she started crying even harder but he could hear the whispered “Thank you.”

“Angel, not that I um. I don’t want to be rude but uh. Why’d you call me?” He’d heard a lot about her from Jack, but never really talked all too much with her. He hadn’t ever really felt he was great with kids and he’d missed so much of her life being on deployment that he didn’t know where he stood with her.

After a few moments where the teen got her crying under control, she managed to hiccup out, “D-ad always talks about how you’re so courageous and you’re a soldier and I thought that if anyone could -” Her voice broke and she continued in a barely held together rush “help me it would be you because Dad always forgives you!”

He didn’t have a response to that. He stared at the duffle bag that contained his entire worldly possessions and swore again. “I don’t even know where you are.”

The hopeful thread to her voice was his undoing, “I… Knew you were in Concordia so I...” The ECHO cut out and there was a timid knock to his hotel room door.

Angel, standing outside his room began to cry in earnest and to his horror Axton heard her repeat “I’m sorry” over and over as she tried to cover her face with her hands.

He didn’t need to think very hard about grabbing her into a hug, “Ah fuck don’t cry. Look it’s your birthday right? Surely we can go do something to make you smile a bit an’ then figure this whole shit with Jack out tomorrow or something.”

“Really? Y-you’re not taking me back?”

He moved away so that she could see the truth on his face when he said, “Angel when I was your age I was able to join Dhal and kill people. You wan'ing to stay in a city with me for a couple of days ain’t exactly breaking a law.”

“I just thought that - what with my Dad being your friend…”

Axton laughed, “Yeah he’s my friend. That’s why I know he’s a fucking asshole sometimes.”

Angel wiped the last of the tears from her eyes and managed a shaky smile.

“But. You gotta ECHO him and let him know you’re safe. Don’t gotta say where you are - just that you’ll ECHO every day ‘till you go back.”

“Deal.”

“Then you and me Angel - let’s go have some fun!”

 

[Chapter One End]

 

-

 

'Let's March Boys' by Graveyard Train can be found [here](http://graveyardtrain.bandcamp.com/track/lets-march-boys)!


	2. She Likes To Eat The Skin

#  **Chapter Two: She Likes**

#  **To Eat The Skin**

 

“This was kind of stupidly easy. Wow. I mean really I didn’t need you Kiddo-”

Axton sighs as Jack starts gloating over the private line.

Sanctuary is much like it has always been; a slum of a city filled with desperate hope; It is a place to easily get lost in. Axton can slip away without an odd glance and in the dark corners that he knows there are markets much darker than Crazy Earl’s.

Axton doesn't need much though, and at the moment, just time enough to answer Jack with “Yeah well it’s always been easy to get into the city. But into the Crimson Raiders? Now shut up or I won’t be able to focus!”

“Watch your goddamn tongue Axton, or have you forgotten who pays your wage?”

“I don’t have fucking acess to that account anyway you asshole!”

(Axton didn’t want to admit that the whole plan seems a tiny bit extravagant when he could have easily just turned up any time, killed the guards, powered down the shield and got the hell out of dodge. But no, Jack wants it to be an opportunity to mock and gloat at the pathetic resistance.

Axton actually feels bad; the Vault Hunters seem like good enough people, given the type normally found on Pandora. He can easily imagine a life where he wasn’t a double agent but actually on their side, helping them, living with them as a comrade.

Besides, Roland isn’t even in the city at the moment and he’s kind of a big part of their plans. Axton sighs, but already knows he’ll have to help track down and even save the man they’re planning on killing soon anyway.

Still, he’s heard a lot of rumours about the Firehawk; it will be fun seeing if any are true.

 -

"Oh great. I'm now surrounded by people who would  happily see me used as target practice for Marcus' wares."

"Ah suck it up you big baby. That will only happen if you get caught!"

"Wow. Thanks. So much comfort."

"Shut up. Now get going; we need these idiots to have the 'brilliant' plan to steal one  of my power cores and even I'm not sure how they're going to be stupid enough to agree to this idea."

Axton doesn't respond, which Jack doesn't even notice as he gets distracted trying to run a massive space company while trying to kill an entire planet and become a god.

The Commando wanders out and into Sanctuary,  the home base of the people he is trying to destroy. He looks around, sees their smiles and kindness;  the desire to keep them safe rather than turn them in for the reward Jack is offering.

He also sees the rotten core;  the starved corpses in the side alleys, the drugs passed freely and the justifications for killing your unarmed neighbour (he had a better coat, he had bread, he looked at me funny, I heard him say he'd rather be in Opportunity).

He knows that Jack doesn't see this. He doesn't see the good and bad,  the dichotomy of life and the gloriously fun chaos it brings. All Jack sees are bandits marring a planet that could be beautiful.

And Axton? He doesn't give a fuck to be honest. He doesn't care if Jack 'cleanses' the planet or gets bored and moves on. All he wants is to not be bored and to stick with the only family he's cared about.

 -

Axton is bitching quietly; the others interrogating the screwball cult leader bandit. “It’s really fucking cold here.”

Handsome Jack’s reply is about as warm as the temperature, “Are you serious? ‘It’s really cold’? That’s what you’re bitching about?”

“Hey my face is fucking freezing. The bloody chevron is going to give me frostbite because some Jack-ass took my gel!” The frustration at having to keep his voice low is obvious, but there is still a sense of amusement in the words.

Jack just laughs, “Suck it up Cupcake. And you better not be implying I took your bitch-piss gel.”

Axton scoffs, “Sure you didn’t.”

Jack doesn’t need an image to know Axton has rolled his eyes at him, so Jack just leans back in his chair and sighs in contentment. “You know, I’m going to have a nice hot cup of coffee and put my feet on the radiator.”

“Hey guys, we really need to make Jack pay for getting us stuck in so many goddamn frozen wastelands.” Axton calls to the others, and the resounding agreement feels like a victory.

(It isn’t because Axton then has to listen to Jack describe how perfect the coffee is and damnit Axton hasn’t had a good hot coffee in a long ass time.)

 -

“Are you kidding me. We were - we were **this** close to him!” Axton yells, gesturing wildly with his hands.

Salvador pats him on the shoulder in commiseration, though the gunzerker looks more sad about the fact that there are no more bandits to kill than the lack of Roland.

Maya lets out a long sigh of a breath “Yeah, Just hope he’s okay ‘till we get him away from the Bloodshots. I mean, I get he’s the badass leader but that isn’t going to help a captive.”

No thanks to Lilith, all of them have had to trudge back through the Canyon to the Fast Travel station to hop over to Sanctuary.

The revelation that Lilith is the Firehawk is not something Axton expected. Seeing the Siren’s power was a sharp reminder of the first days he spent with Angel, watching her power ebb and burst almost out of control. Yet Lilith has the control, as dependent on Eridium as she seems to be. It gives him terrible ideas.

The long forgotten plan swimming up from the depths of guilt he had pushed it to all those years ago.

“Axton…” Angel’s voice is nothing more than a whisper and he just knows that this is a private conversation. “Axton maybe…”

Scooter’s suggestion of hitting up The Dust is fine by Axton; he’s spent more than enough time that way, so he’s plenty happy out in the desert.

The group of Vault Hunters are standing outside Sanctuary’s main gate, by the Catch-A-Ride station; they agreed to supply up and meet here to begin their expedition to supe-up the Technical.

Axton nods slightly at the screen, knowing Angel is watching. He can’t talk with Salvador and Maya so close.

Angel’s voice is soft, sad and so very hesitant, “ Maybe we could use her. The Firehawk is… And we need a Siren strong enough to… If it was her maybe Dad won’t be so mad.”

Axton hates everything. He knows the girl wants some reassurance that her thoughts aren’t bad, but he can’t give her the comfort she needs. It is a horrible plan and they are terrible for even creating it.

He wonders what it means that he is going to willingly go along with it; lie to all of their faces and betray them like this.

Zer0’s voice breaks him from his thoughts, “Get ready; this trip / Will not be a short one now. / To The Dust we go.” Zer0 already has the car ready and he’s taken the driver’s seat. Axton looks at the car with a sense of trepidation and annoyance; he can already technically fast travel to The Dust, but no one else can and it would be a bit suspicious of him to go alone. It will be a hell of a journey in such a small vehicle for all of them to fit in, but anything is better than the swirling maelstrom of thoughts he is currently facing.

He feels terrible that he is glad when the Echo signal fails not half an hour into the drive.

Almost as soon as the signal cuts out, he starts singing. Softly at first, because he’s not too sure how the other will take it, but the silence is getting on his nerves.

Surprisingly Maya knows a few of the more popular ones and Salvador knows plenty of the Pandoran folk ones. Zero doesn’t join in singing, but they can all see his head swaying in time to the music.

He starts one the others don't know, and they all fall silent, listening to his voice almost lazily form the words.

" _That we, will rise on up to the sky,_

_rest in the gaze of the lord on high,_

_there ain't no lord on high_!"

It is normally a pleasantly haunting song when accompanied by a guitar, but without that and the others singing it just sounds wistful.

In this rare time away from everything, Axton thinks.

He thinks of what he will do for Jack and what he won’t. He thinks he should be more worried that there is very little he won’t do.

Spending more and more time with the Vault Hunters is bad; he almost wants to stop it all. He doesn’t want to betray them, even though he knows his very presence is betrayal. He doesn’t want to be on a side, when that choice was made many, many years ago.

The absolute worst thing is that the thing he feels the most bad about is the idea that Jack will think Axton and Angel have betrayed him. Out of all of the murder, lies, the damn genocide they’re planning, the thought of Jack feeling betrayed is the worst.

Well, Axton always knew he is hell-bound, but this just cements it.

 -

Axton likes Tiny Tina. He realised this is a growing problem he’s having; he likes the people of the Resistance, the Vault Hunters, the Bandits.

All of the people he’s going to kill.

After his realisation on the ride to The Dust, the Commando has kept to himself a bit more; celebrating the recovery of Roland as little as possible and ignoring Jack as much as possible.

He watched the little girl prance around her freezing cave, the mockery of a tea party and feels… sad. He feels sad that Jack caused this; that he brought the planet to the state where psychopathic teenage girls can torture and murder the person who killed her parents.

Axton likes Tiny Tina so he hopes he never has to see her again; he hopes he never has to kill her directly.

He watches her kill Flesh-Stick and realises that even this isn’t enough to make him turn on Jack. Turning a girl into a murderer isn’t enough to make him betray Jack.

Looking at the humming girl, Axton starts smiling; a weight lifted off his chest he hadn’t wanted to think about.

Him and Jack have been through so much together; marriages, divorces, deaths, betrayals and insanity. Nothing will stop them now.

 -

Axton never liked Wilhelm.

It was kind of odd because they both were big on machines, guns and sentry turrets but there was just something that made Axton put space between them.

Maybe it had something to do with the whole cyborg thing Wilhelm had going on, or the sheer lack of morals and complete blood frenzy.

Either way, it made it about as hard to choose to kill Wilheim about as hard as any big nasty that Pandora could throw.

He doesn't think about how 'loyal' a soldier Wilheim had been. Doesn't think about  the past he shared with Nisha. Axton just thought about the best tactics to shoot the machine called Wilhelm with a corrosive gun and end the fight without too much collateral damage.

Even Jack doesn't have much to say about the man's ... machine's ... cyborg's death, other than to use it to fuck with the Resistance a little bit more.

It's only afterwards when they have a moment of grace to loot the weapons and other drops that Axton thinks "Who will tell his family? " and the thought makes him want to fucking bawl laughing because of course Wilhelm doesn't have a family and even if he did would they really care?

You don't stick it with Jack if you have things you care about, because the number one way to gain loyalty is to hold the power over those important little things.

Dhal managed it perfectly. They couldn't touch his relationship with Sarah so they took away the one thing that meant more than the rings. They took his ECHO device. He only got it for good behaviour and after he missed Angel speaking her first word and had to listen back to the message like a goddamn stranger intruding, he had been very well behaved.

So no, there was no family. There aren't even friends as far as Axton is aware.

So he calls the only person he can think of who spent time with Wilhelm outside of Hyperion.

"I think I melted Whilheim's head."

Nisha's voice is a lazy drawl across the ECHO link, "What joke did you tell him?"

"The one where the corrosive bullets met his face."

"You aren't joking. "

"I can't tell if it's blood, oil or acid on my boots."

"Well fuck. You **killed** Wilhelm?” Nisha sounds fucking giddy with barely held back laughter. “Sweet fuck that must have been a hell of a fight!”

Axton’s eyes widen at her tone, and quickly says “Uh… yeah? But in all fairness Jack did -”

“Well of course Jack’s got his fingers in -”

“Ew.” Axton interrupts, humour and horror mixing into his tone.

“...Ewww.” The horror in her tone is hysterical.

That’s how the other Vault Hunters find Axton once they’re done picking the loot; he’s half slumped over laughing, half trying to bash the idea out of his brain on the cold tundra ice-wall.

“What you doin’ Amigo?” Salvador asks cautiously.

“Just catching up with an old friend.” Axton manages, after his laughter dies out, not really thinking about the consequences.

“You have friends here?” Maya probably doesn’t mean for it to come out sounding so… mean, but Axton laughs again and waves off her apologetic look.

“Yeah I’ve been on Pandora a couple’a years now, mostly keeping my head down in a little place out by The Dust.” It’s not entirely a lie, but mostly one. He continues quickly, “Just letting her know Wilhelm is dead. Lotta people will feel better knowing it.”

He thinks Zer0 is going to say something, but Nisha says “I’ll raise a glass for you. Can’t say I’ll miss him though.” and the line goes dead.

Just in time for Roland to call, reminding them that Sanctuary really kind of does need that power-core.

Axton is smart enough to know that he can use this; maybe mention his friend a few more times and let them hear the end of some conversations. He’s said he’s kept a low profile, so they don’t need to know how many different people Echo him and he really doesn’t want them to know who those people are.

Not yet at least.

 -

(Then)

Jack's scar was, oddly enough, not a point of contention. Axton kind of assumed that Jack was going to make a big deal about it but the ECHOs from that period of their lives were sparse; what with Axton trying to not get killed down on Pandora and Jack being in hospital. When Axton managed to get up to Helios to celebrate his friend’s new promotion, he met the mask.

Jack had been standing at his new desk, posture completely rigid and eyes so full of hate Axton almost missed the obvious.

Axton took his time looking over Jack’s new features, before slowly tapping the chevron on his temple, “Got some gel left from the army; warms metal and has codeine in it for the pain. You want my spare tub?”

The was the right thing to say as Axton saw the anger and (dare he think it) apprehension leave Jack’s posture. “You seriously think I need your Dhal bitch-piss? Aw Pumpkin haven’t you heard? I’m Handsome fucking Jack - president of Hyperion. I’ve got everything I need.”

In all of the years of their friendship, there had always been a streak of maliciousness in Jack, but the poison now curling in his words was something new.

“Ain’t got me.” It was a mean thing to say; Jack had brought up Axton’s lack of employment with Hyperion more than enough for Axton to know it was a sore point, but maybe it was finally time to do something about that. "Though maybe it's time to fix that, huh?"

Axton hadn't been back to the Station too much after the ordeal with Angel, but this? Hell, the whole fucking vault mess was bad enough to bring him not only up to the forsaken Satellite, but enough to make him actually want to stay.

Jack was glaring again, "You better not be fucking with me Cupcake. You don't want to know what happened to the last person who did that."

"Nah Boss. Not this time. You always did promise me a job." He stuck a hand out towards Jack, towards his oldest and dearest friend.

Handsome Jack didn't even think twice before taking the offered hand and promise.

 

[Chapter Two End]

 

-

'She Likes to Eat the Skin' by Graveyard Train can be found [here](http://graveyardtrain.bandcamp.com/track/she-likes-to-eat-the-skin)!


	3. A Tall Shadow

#  **Chapter Three: A Tall Shadow**

  ****

The time after Angel broke down the shields around Sanctuary and the city started flying (because why the fuck not it’s not even the craziest thing on Pandora really), Axton really can’t believe how good she is.

Angel played the Crimson Raider Resistance like a goddamn fiddle; betrayed them, got so many people killed and they still fucking trust her plans. She has a silver tongue and plans that she will not give up on.

 -

He’s going along with the madness of her plan at the moment because there has to be something at the end, some mythical better future she and her daddy are always dreaming about.

Axton just wishes the damn plans didn’t mean he has to be in the Wildlife Preserve.

It’s kind of a bad place for Axton, not just because of the large and numerous creatures trying to kill them all, but for the fact that it makes the Vault Hunters have to confront Jack’s cruelty even more head on than they ever have before. Listening to the ECHO logs of the early Eridium experiments is something Axton could have lived without hearing.

Of course he’s known the general details of them for a long time, but he’s never had the courage to listen to the recordings himself.

He wishes he still hadn’t. Tiny Tina’s parents… the threats to scientists…

Through it all, Axton has had Handsome Jack whispering in his ear, “ _Oh come on Kiddo, you’ve known this is what we **do**. We’re making progress here! Science can’t have limits! They were just bandits_!”

When they finally make it to Bloodwing… When Axton sees what Jack has done to her, he knows for certain that the kid he met all those years ago is dead. There is only Handsome Jack now.

Bloodwing’s death raises a memory long buried deep inside Axton. The memory of his first pet when he was 9 years old - a stray skag pup. He remembers the sight of it bleeding and broken - the Matron of the orphanage hated everything living, but really hated Skags.

He remembers the sad words “ _I can do it. Nothing should live like this._ ” Jack’s voice had already broken at 16 years old. He remembers that it was the first time he heard a spine break (not the last; now he doesn’t even blink, but then he’d cried and cried and _cried_ ) and he remembers, above all, Jack’s hand on his shoulder as they stood over the grave.

He doesn’t think about the fact that who he used to be probably died the day they first met because no matter how much distance is between them or how far past sane Jack goes, Axton always comes back to him.

 -

Axton has spent plenty of time out in the Dead Sands. Travelled around most of the encampments and stayed in most of the towns. Lived a year in Lynchwood. He knows the stomping grounds well and wouldn’t be surprised if everyone knows him.

The first time the Vault Hunters arrive in Lynchwood, Axton braces himself.

“Remember; shoot on sight. The blue haired Siren, Ninja-Robot, Salvador from Ovejas and Axton the Commando. They’re enemies. Not friends. None of them. Got it?” Deputy Winger sounds as close to terror and panic as always, but his message makes Axton want to laugh. The whole damn town is in on the dupe and are willing to die for it. Typical Pandora.

 -

He’s known Nisha for years and know about her and Jack for as long as it’s been going on. Accepted it and absolutely did not feel anything like jealousy when he listens to them talk.

She’s currently in the middle of telling a story to the Vault Hunters as the four of them try to gain some ground in the west of the town.

Axton knows the story well - he lived through it, and then he realises that oh crap, he lived through it - she’s at the part where he bursts in, turret blazing and saved Jack and Nisha’s asses.

Shit.

“An’ then the stupid Resistance guy was like ‘For Pandora!!’ and charged at us with a sword because _what the fuck_ \- no offence crazy sword-wielding ninja-robot - when the doors burst open in a hail of automatic bullets. Damn that is such a good sound. _Mmm_. Anyway, that’s when Jack realised I already knew him.” Nisha laughs and Axton just knows this will end badly. “Jack thought we’d never meet, but I’d known the guy Jack’s been cheating on with me for at least three months.”

Fucking. Shit.

Maya all but yells “Wait what?!” and Zer0 has a flashing ‘ **?** ’. Salvador is too busy yelling while shooting dual corrosive Milwan assault rifles.

Mordecai interrupts when the Vault Hunters have to suddenly focus harder on the fight as more bandits start pouring out of a house. “No really, let’s go back to Maya’s question; wait what? Jack’s banging a dude?”

Nisha laughs even harder, “Don’t get me started on them and the shit-storm that is their relationship! It’s a fucking goddamned mess of a marriage without rings!”

“Nisha.” Jack’s voice is sudden and startles everyone. “What are you talking about?” He sounds on the verge of anger, but amused concern still colours his voice.

“You and your Lover-Boy! How he always rides in to save the day and how you’ve been cheating on him relentlessly. I mean hey our sex is great and all but _damn_ , you even married someone else while still being married to him!”

“What the fuck?!” Axton’s exclamation is mirrored by Mordecai and Maya adds a few extra swears as well.

Jack groans in frustration “Oh come on! You know I never married him. He’s just -”

“Always been there for you, is disgustingly loyal and you two bicker like an old married couple?” Nisha cuts in.

“Excuse you I’m not a day over 30!”

“...You’re like 35 in a couple’a months.” Nisha deadpans back, and over Jack’s denials she continues, “And you’ve known Lover-Boy for 24 years!”

The last of the bandits die and Axton looks at the other Vault Hunters, “Anyone else really fuckin’ wish ECHOs had a mute button?”

Salvador laughs and Maya looks like she’s in pain, “I need to bleach my brain. Not sure what’s worse; Jack having an honest to God friend for that long, them being - _you know_ \- or how much Nisha, _Jack’s current girlfriend_ is clearly enjoying this.”

Mordecai groans in agreement.

Axton flushes slightly and offers “I’m thinking some more explosions might make them stop?”

“Amigo, that’s a great idea.” Salvador says serious, producing a frightening amount of what looks like dynamite from seemingly nowhere.

-

 "Hey Nisha?"

"Yeah Lover-Boy?"

Axton hesitates as he stares up at the sky, before rolling over to look towards Lynchwood, "You know he's going to destroy the whole goddamn planet. Why haven't you gone off-world yet?"

There is an even longer pause. Axton can count on one hand the number of times she has been speechless but it just means he wants to hear her answer more than anything.

"It's not love. I dunno what the Kid's been saying but it isn't that." Nisha says in reference to Angel's tendency to romanticise actions. "And let's not even go into the false promises Jack made that I didn't listen to."

Nisha sighs over the comms and Axton doesn't want to say anything because it's so fucking rare to hear her talking about honest to god emotions.

"You live on Pandora, you got a death wish. Hell,  I seek it out more than some, what with Jack, Lynchwood and Vault Hunting, but that don't mean I want to die." There is another pause and he doesn't want to breathe. "I know some things for sure. 1) I'll die fighting. 2) If it came to it, I'd fight the Warrior. 3) Everyone dies sooner or later so I'll go out with a big fucking bang."

He finds his voice long enough to say, "In death, glory?"

Her response is quick, "In death, failure."

They don't speak again that night.

The next day Nisha challenges the Vault Hunters to a duel.

-

They're both right.

In death, glory and failure.

 -

The last visit to Lynchwood is something Axton mourns quietly. Nisha is dead - his friend is dead and he helped kill her. This is worse than Wilheim because that crazy machine-man hadn’t ever really been on the best of terms with Axton but Nisha…

She’d known Axton better than anyone else on Pandora bar Angel. They’d gotten drunk together many a nights and bitched about Jack (often with him on the ECHO).

Hell she’d known about his feelings for Jack and had cried with laughter during that conversation because she thought they were, gods above, a couple already. She’d invited him to have a threesome but Axton had decided he wasn’t quite ready for anything like that then.

Nisha is - was his best and worst friend.

And now he is burying her in the middle of the night all alone because Jack is drinking on Helios and Angel is still locked up and Axton doesn’t have anyone else.

The bandits around here know Axton well enough to stay the hell away from him and they’d all seen what he just did to the Skag that had tried to get too close to her body as he dug the grave.

He stands over the open grave and looks down at her still bloody corpse. It hadn’t felt right to try and clean her up because she never gave a fuck about blood when she was alive, so why would she care in death?

The bottle of tequila is - was her favourite and it had been hell getting it on such short notice but quite frankly the Zaford Clan had the choice of handing it over or dying.

Axton lets out a long shaky breath as he regards the bottle. With a click, he connects through to Jack’s ECHO, even if the man seems set on ignoring him.

“You stupid goddamn asshole Nisha. Fuck I - I tried. I fucking tried to stop this motherfucking trainwreck … but you never fucking listened.” The anger in his words isn’t really directed at her, but instead at the whole situation. He grips the bottle and lifts it to throw it down on her corpse, but stops himself at the last moment.

Instead he drops to his knees and hangs his head, “Why couldn’t you have just stayed the fuck out of this?” he grits out.

Jack sighs across the ECHO and Axton can tell he’s about to say something and Axton just can’t deal with it - he just can’t.

“You deserve what you got, but **fuck** Nisha... I wish you hadn’t.” With that said, he leans into the grave to put the tequila in her hands and thinks back to when they first met. He laughs helplessly and begins to sing the song that led them to actually meeting.

“ _I turn and I see a great smile at me;_

_the devil sings a sweet melody._

_I fall to the ground in pieces I’ll be found._

_There’s a tall shadow chasing after me._

_There’s a tall shadow chasing after me._ ”

 -

He’s sitting in the bar where he first met Nisha. Deputy Winger pushes the door open slowly and tramps over, exhaustion weighing down his steps. He looks like he hasn’t slept in days, but Axton doesn’t care because Winger didn’t lose his best friend today. He’s always been more scared of the former Sheriff than friendly.

“She uh…” Winger starts, eyeing the nearly empty bottle of gin next to Axton on the bar, “She didn’t leave much stuff, or a will or anything really; the duel was… yeah.”

“Your. Point.” It isn’t a question, or even a proper sentence; it’s an expression of how Not Okay Axton is.

Winger sighs and drops a beast of a Jakobs revolver on the bar. The 9 barrel LeMat also has a fucking shotgun barrel beneath that and the gun is a thing of goddamn beauty. But it makes Axton’s throat tighten because the inscription carved into the butt of the gun is nothing short of a goodbye.

Axton has seen Nisha carve many things with what she called a ‘hunting knife’, but what was actually a broken machete, and her handwriting was always less than elegant normally.

The bottle of gin is thrown at the wall with all of Axton’s strength and it smashes, the wall is dented and Deputy Winger leaves without another word.

“ ** _LOVER-BOY_ ** ”

 -

(Then)

When Axton met Nisha, he’d been wary of the Sheriff, but Deputy Winger was a good enough guy that Axton didn’t think it was a set-up. The bar was a comfortable enough place and seemed damn nearly friendly with the buzz of chatter and almost drowned out plink of a guitar being picked.

He liked this place, and Winger made sure the drinks kept coming.

After far more drinks than he should have ever had outside of the safety of Helios, Axton stood up, steadied himself on the chair because wow the room was spinning a bit, but he couldn’t take it any longer. He almost maintained stability as he beelined for the banjo player. The whole band were drinking along with the rest of the rabble in the bar, but the guy with the banjo had been plucking at the strings tunelessly for long enough. The poor bandit looked up in horror as the large, well built and glaring Commando stuck a hand out for the instrument, “Ain’t gunna play it right, ain’t gunna play it at all.” Axton gritted out.

He got the banjo.

Of course then he realised that it had gone rather quiet in the bar and a lot of eyes were on him. Winger was wide-eyed and looked like he was about to see someone killed in front of him again.

Axton looked at the banjo in his hands, then at the Sheriff who is already reaching for a gun.

“Ah hell.” Axton sighed, pushed a hapless bandit from a seat and sat down, holding the banjo properly to start playing.

It has a simple enough start and a pretty recognizable one too, so by the time he gets twenty seconds in, the other musicians are scrambling back to their places in time to join in. He breathes a sigh of relief before launching into singing

“T _here’s a tall shadow, chasing after me,_

_it’s icy breath is all I can see_

_I run to my waggon as fast as I can;_

_There’s a tall shadow chasing after me._ ”

No one else was singing and he wanted to close his eyes, but instead forced them down to the strings he was carefully playing. The words came easy to him as he started to smile; there really was nothing better than singing when there was actual music to go with.

“ _I’ve sinned and I’ve cursed against our Lord,_

_No bright light will shine bright on me._

_The shadow knows all my deeds and misery,_

_I’ve sinned and I’ve cursed against our Lord._ ”

When he got to the loudest part the whole damn bar joined in and it made Axton smile because he had missed this so much; missed people who just understood the music and the need to sing and drink.

After the final refrain died down, the rabble were hooting and yelling, but the noise was cut perfectly silent by the Sheriff’s shout, “Holy fuck you’re the guy with the witching voice Jack’s cheating on!”

Axton was so far beyond confused but didn’t really want to let the crazy Sheriff know it.

She started laughing hard enough to double herself over, but eventually managed to make her way to him and slapped him on the shoulder (and _ow_ she was strong). “I’ve been fucking Jack for a while cowboy but hell, he talks about you almost more than the damn Vault! I’m not blind!”

He resisted the urge to bury his face in his hands and just leave the damn planet behind, “The fuck has that screw-ball been saying now?!”

Nisha kept laughing and Axton just knew that they were going to be friends.

 

[Chapter Three End]

 

-

 

'A Tall Shaddow' by Graveyard Train can be found [here!](http://graveyardtrain.bandcamp.com/track/a-tall-shadow)

 


	4. The Lonesome Road Coffee Lounge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Covering 'Where Angels Fear to Tread' and the fallout.

**Chapter Four: The Lonesome Road Coffee Lounge**

 “Promise me.” Her voice is so soft and so broken it hurts them both.

Axton doesn’t want to listen, doesn’t want to deal with this. Partially because it’s in the middle of a little skirmish and partially because emotion of that caliber should always be run away from. “Angel, now really ain’t the best time - “

“Axton promise me. Whatever he says - does - ” She speaks over him and their words mesh but he can’t deal with this.

“You ain’t a goddamn prisoner!” He yells. He is breathing heavily and so very glad the other Vault Hunters are far enough away and too distracted to hear him.

Axton let’s his voice drop to a furious snap, “Fuck you know why he’s got you in there. You know you can’t survive without the eridium. This ain’t some game, Angel it’s your goddamn life.”

He is shaking, shaking so much from adrenaline and emotions and endorphins. “Fuck, what do you want from me?”

“I just - He… he said it was only for a short time. That I’d charge the key and be out.” Angel sounds like the same scared teenager she had been all those years ago on Concordia.

With a sigh he says, “Well no offense to you or Jack, but you’re both fucking morons.”

“I just want to be out of here.” There are tears clouding her voice and he wants to close his eyes to the whole damn world.

That damn voice. Her and her Daddy will make him burn the whole world with that voice. “I …” he trails off, trying to decide if he really wants to say this, “I promise to help you. But if I think this is going to - I don’t know, go tits up...”

“It won’t kill me.” She interjects, like that’s the main concern.

“Fucking christ really not the the right time -” His voice trails off as the other Vault Hunters get a bit too close for him to talk. “Fine. I won’t spill on your plan. But the moment this goes even close to bad I’m telling Jack.”

Angel is quiet for a long moment, but she says, very softly, “Thank you. You don’t need to worry; I’d never ask you to choose.” The noise she makes would almost be a laugh if it wasn’t so sad, “You’d never betray Dad.”

The call disconnects before Axton can even reply.

 -

"You two are planning somethings. Don't think I don't know about the little 'private' chats you've been having." Jack's voice is full of false warmth  and encouragement.

"We've not -"

"Angel." Jack drops all pretenses and the word just sounds angry now. "Well Axton, what do you have to say for yourself?"

Angel is holding her breath, so sure this is it, this is when he tells Jack the whole stupid plan and she won't ever be able to escape.

Axton sighs and rubs a hand across his face , "What we're doing - gunna do is -" He struggles to find the best phrasing that means he isn't out and out lying. "The reason I'm doing this is 'cause I believe that it offers the best possible outcome for everyone and stepping up your plans." Axton says it slowly, as if sounding it out as he goes.

Jack's response is to laugh bitterly "You aren't made for politics Kiddo, but bravo on such a bullshit answer. I'll make this simple. If you don't tell me, you'll be treated like one of the Vault Hunters. No more pulling my punches - I'll kill you."

Axton thinks Angel is crying softly. He looks up at the sky, at Helios. He nods a few times and clears his throat. "Understood. I'm sorry Jack. I promised Angel, so this is the only path that honours both."

Jack drops the call without a word and Angel's breath hitches again. She manages to choke out, "I'm sorry also. I don't want you to suffer for this but -"

"Hey it's okay. I made a promise to you to help you with this, no questions asked. You've done more than enough to hide the details so I physically can't answer all of his questions. The rest - well." He pauses to sigh, "Well I haven't lied to him. It is the best option. It just might also kill you."

"Us." She amends, the tears evident in the wetness of her voice. "It will kill us both - or He'll kill you if I die."

"Or if the Resistance survives. They'll be after me once they know I'm a traitor. "

"And you have to get past the BNK3R."

"Which will be hell enough. Then there's the defenses inside Control Core."

"The odds are against us badly."

"Always are.

Axton whistles a note before breaking into a soft song, ' _Well you said you needed me to help you,_

_Said I was the only one could make things right_.'

She listens to the mournful words without comment. There was nothing more to say now; everything is in place for tomorrow and Jack and Axton can only play the parts she has laid out.

 It's all anyone can do.

 -

Axton is supposed to be asleep. He’s supposed to be resting because in the morning they’re finishing the journey to the BNK3R and he’s really going to go through with this shit-show of a plan.

He doesn't want to fight the BNK3R because  he's seen the blueprints for the monster before. Jack has always been so fucking proud of the monstrosity of a machine.

Angel has planned out their actions perfectly, played all of her cards and puppy-dog eyes (and for fuck’s sake Jack even said it hadn’t he ‘ _anyone would happily lay down their life for a pretty girl with big blue eyes_.’) and it’s so true because they’re all still trusting her, the Vault Hunters are when she tricked them and the Crimson Raiders when she betrayed them and Axton is when he promised he’d keep her safe.

Axton has stolen Fast-Travel beacons for her, risked the Wildlife Preserve for her, he killed the body-double.

He knows that Jack knows that he’s acting on Angel’s word right now. He knows that Jack is letting them run around, one last ditch game before the the world ends.

Part of him is glad that Jack hasn’t asked further. He’s glad that he doesn’t have to try and explain that he’s just trying to help Angel, that he’s actually trying to help Jack because Axton isn’t sure if he has the words really.

The night sky is overcast with heavy rain clouds and it makes the night seem even more oppressive. He can’t see the BNK3R from the camp they’ve made; the tower is hidden in the Thousand Cuts mountains.

Tomorrow he might actually get killed by the BNK3R because it’s going to be a fucking nightmare.

Tomorrow he’s going to actually see Angel for the first time in person in years.

Tomorrow he might kill her.

 -

The BNK3R goes down in a shuddering explosion and Axton is impressed at the shock wave it produces.

There is the normal scramble for weapons and loot; they all need to make sure they're ready for whatever is inside Control Core, and the BNK3R seriously depleted their resources.

It takes them all of five minutes to clear to top of loot, restock and patch any serious wounds.

Neither Jack or Angel have spoken since Jack's proclamation of " _Okay fun times over kiddies. Brick and his mouth breathers couldn't bust my bunker and neither can you._ "

They move to the door and Axton is finally  going to see Angel again. After all these years he's going to see her and they're going to actually pull this off.

" _Consider this is your final warn - no this is my final warning. Turn around and I promise I'll make this quick. But I swear, you take one more step, every soul back in Sanctuary will die staring at their own lungs as I rip them from their chests_."

Axton shivers at the cold rage in Jack's voice and the possibility that Jack may not forgive him for this.

 -

" ‘I love you.’ "

 -

When the elevator doors open, Axton takes a steadying breath.

Angel begins her speech pleading with them to destroy her - for the greater good of Pandora. It almost makes Axton want to laugh, but she sounds so convincing he has to grab the syringe in his pocket to re-affirm the real plan.

 Jack’s voice yelling, “You get the **hell away from my daughter** ! **Angel I order you to defend yourself!** "

 Angel gets pulled away, back into her prison and the Vault Hunters run forward, sees her -

 Axton sees her for the first time in years.

 She is the shell of her former self. Arms thin, lacking any muscle definition. Her hair is shaved on one side and there are wires and the Eridium. He hardly recognises the woman in front of him, but she is Angel; the sweet baby he held, the youngster he treasured stories of, the teenager he helped run away from her dad for a birthday weekend on Concordia.

 And everyone in this room is trying to kill her.

 He almost misses her command to destroy the injectors. Zer0 doesn’t though. One injector explodes in metal and fluid.

Then Jack gets pissed. The shields go up and Roland appears and the fight to survive and he has to see this plan through.

 "What the hell are you doing? Axton, I **order** you to defend her now!" Jack yells this, with the intent and ferocity that the Commando falters in his step for just a moment.

It isn't the first time Axton has disobeyed a direct order from Jack, but it certainly is the hardest. Jack sounds honest to god scared underneath his rage.

But Axton doesn't stop fighting, even with the others yelling at him and Jack promising death because he made a goddamn promise to see this through.

 "You're endangering my baby girl. This is my vow, Axton. Every friend, every child, every person you've ever passed on the street, I'm gunna kill them all. You didn't follow the rules Axton. You know what happens to employees who don't follow my rules."

The shock and horror as they realise the truth. Lilith takes the first shot at him, but they glance off his shield. Then Roland follows suit. The Vault Hunters don't because this doesn't make any sense to them; it's Axton, he can't be Hyperion, he can't be a traitor.

 There is only one injector left.

 "Please. Okay. Are you hearing me. Please don't kill my baby girl. Axton you held her when she wasn't even an hour old how can you do this?! You're her Godfather just stop this. Please don't hurt her Axton. You promised you'd look after her. You promised."

This isn't a ploy. This is Jack, serious and begging. Axton - Axton can't. He can't take the final shot.

 But Maya doesn't miss and it all

 

comes

 

tumbling

 

down.

 

-

 

For the first time in years he holds her in his arms and she is shuddering, convulsing and he uncaps the needle and stabs it into her neck, a final desperate act.

She screams and screams and is glowing such a bright purple as the cocktail she had him make gets swept through her bloodstream.

But then it fades, and he is left holding Angel.

 

She isn’t breathing.

 

Axton can't hear what Jack is saying over the rushing blood in his ears and the weight of Angel in his arms. It’s supposed to work. She isn't supposed to be dead she can't be dead.

 A body hits the floor next to him and Roland is dead, finally dead.

 There are people yelling and Lilith captured and Axton looks at the distraught faces of his once - friends.

 The gun that slams into his head doesn't immediately knock him out so he feels - in a wonderfully detached way, how his body falls as he is kicked away from Angel. Jack is aiming the gun and Axton closes his eyes because death has always been an outcome.

 The ripping power of Lilith hits him and everything…

 

Just …

 

Goes.

 

\---

The time when they were young and childish is nothing but faint memories only Axton remembers. He recalls the imposing heat of the summer sun from their first meeting. He remembers thinking the older boy was really odd for wearing long sleeves in summer. He remembers the pain of the shiner he’d gotten for voicing that thought and really, Jack hit harder than expected for a lanky kid.

 He remembers the one year mark from when the old hag started dragging Jack along on the visits to the orphanage. He remembers Jack looking at him like he'd never known someone to stick around for that long just because Axton wanted to.

 He remembers the last promise he made to Jack. 'Goddamn Jack, she's amazing. I swear you won't regret making me her godfather. I'll protect her, I' promise I'll do what's best for her.'

  
-

It's just the one of those days. He knows from the moment he wakes that it's going to be sort of day that makes him regret that all those years ago he'd ever having seen the older boy with the scarred arms.

Axton tries to keep his breathing at the same hitched whistle he's woken up with because he isn’t sure if he wants whoever has him to know he was awake.

The dull throbbing in his head felt like someone had taken the butt of a gun to it and his ribs ached something fierce and his throat felt like Jack had tried to teach him the difference between suffocation/strangulation.

Jack.

Angel

BNK3R Control Core Roland Lilith Angel screaming and screaming and screaming and the feel of the resistance of her flesh as he stabbed the syringe into her heart and her going limp-

 

Okay so his breathing pattern really didn't survive those memories because he's gasping helplessly; not enough oxygen getting past the swelling and the grating of his ribs.

But he doesn't make any other noise. His time in the orphanage set him up well for the training of the military where noise can mean death if you're not safe.

And given the concrete walls, mould, water and general lack of Jack 's over-the - top grandeur, he knows he isn't safe.

And then all noise he’s making stops.

If he isn't safe it's because Jack left him in Control Core.

Jack left him with the enemy even though his cover was blown because Jack wouldn't want to see the person who killed his daughter.

Angel hadn't been breathing. She had been lying limply in his arms and she hadn't been breathing because she'd been disconnected from the Eridium keeping her alive.

He killed Angel.

The sobs that shudder through him are agony on his ribs and he doesn't care who hears.

 When he calms down (becomes numb can't process) he realizes that he knows this place; it's in Sanctuary. The cells don't normally hold people for long as Marcus always needs new targets.

 Axton can't find it in himself to be worried. He rolls over onto his side, the pain bringing tears to his eyes. At last this way he can cry.

 -

For a short while, Axon loses his goddamn mind.

‘ _the shrieking demon inside won't leave me alone_ ’

The are too many words lyrics in his brain and too many dream visions in front of him and he can hear her voice and his parents and Sarah's and Matrons and Nisha is laugh always laughing at him.

‘ _I've lost lost all ambition, all worldly acclaim, I just want to be the one you desire_ ’

Jack left him, has left him, will always leave him Jack is a force of nature a firestorm blitzing across the desert

‘ _so let mercy come and wash away what I've done_ ’

He has so much  look on his hand, arms, it's all over he's drowning in it he's killed so many people so many and most of the time he can't even hide behind military orders he's just a murderer nothing better than a bandit a savage a psycho. He's good at killing and has too little morals and it's just so easy

‘ _holding this in mind, that if we fall, we all fall and we all fall alone_ ’

He spends too much time alone with the violence. He knows he should take Angel and run (but she's dead already he needs to bury her somewhere quiet) take her somewhere nice where she can just be happy and enjoy life (she never got the chance and now she's gone and he did this)

‘ _I'll check in tomorrow if I don't wake up dead. This is the road to ruin and we're starting at the end_ ’

If he hadn't had religion beaten out of him by those purveyors of it as a child he might have laughed. They killed his faith in religion and turned his faith to belief in Jack. Jack who stood tall despite their lives,  their guardians their everything. They turned him to Jack and in doing so made Jack, killed themselves and ruined axton. If Axton hadn't know Jack hadn't been there through it all how would it have changed things would Angel have survived (and that's the worst he just knows that if he had never met her she’d still be alive) would Jack win would he free the Warrior would he rule?

' _I’ll I’m looking for is a little bit more rope to wrap around my throat, I’m in trouble, I’m in trouble._ ’

Angel is dead. Selfishly, Axton wishes he was as well.

 -

He wakes to Maya yelling.

"What the fuck is wrong with you? How could you do that to us?! We're your FRIENDS!" Maya is so angry she's glowing faintly.

Axton almost doesn't respond; his throat hurts and his voice wrecked from tears. "Weren't -" his voice cracks painfully "Ever on your side. Only betrayed one person. "

"Oh my god." She whispers,  sounding horrified and the glow cuts out, leaving Axton to blink sluggishly, eyes not quite adjusting right.

"You're him. 'Lover-Boy' Nisha spoke of. You've known - You've been with him -"

"Since before Pandora was even known about. Before everything. Yeah. I'm even Angel's Godfather." He pauses and chokes on a hysterical laugh "Was. Was her - FUCK!" It's a broken cry of a swear as he clenched his hands into fists and covers his eyes.

He dimly hears her take a shuddering breath as well but he just can't right now because he'd been the second person to hold Angel after her birth, he'd seen her grow up via Echo messages Jack smuggled to him while in the military.

And he killed her.

Fuck.

When he manages to get control of himself again Maya is staring at him like he's gone insane.

"God Ax, you don’t - I mean - you can’t think he loves you?”

Axton laughs, an oddly happy sound, “Handsome Jack loves two things; power and Angel.”

The heartbroken confusion in her voice is like a physical blow. “Then why?”

“So fucking what if he doesn’t love me? This ain’t some moral fairy tale, this is Pandora! No, this is just **life**. I don’t need him to love me - I don’t need him to even like me. I do what I do because I want to. I’m all kinds of selfish really.”

Maya takes a step back, her hand balled into fists and a faint purple glow rising.

Axton keeps talking, “You’re not any better! How many people have you killed just because? We had a job, we killed people who got in the way, we wanted to blow off some steam, we’re **all bad people**!” He is yelling now. “And me loving that stupid fucking asshole has changed nothing! We still had all that fun together. I was still a shoulder to lean on for you when you wanted to talk about your past, I am still the person you’ve laughed with and I have always loved him. You think you knowing suddenly changes me? That I’m going to be different? This is me.”

He spreads his arms open wide and stands up, forcing Maya to look at him. “Nothing has changed.”

She leaves without another word. She never comes back to his cell.

He's alone again because there is no one left for him. He's betrayed Jack, the Resistance, killed Nisha and Angel.

He's not stupid. He's been through hell in childhood and made it worse in a military that didn't care for their soldiers.  He knows he isn't thinking right, that the stress and emotions are controlling him, but right now he's more than happy to just stay right here in the cell until Jack burns the world clean with the Warrior. He can't see the point in bothering now. Not without his only true family.

(And how fucked up is that? That Handsome Jack is more of a family that his parents ever were. That Jack and Angel make (made) him feel happier than Sarah had ever managed. That for once he was willing to give himself completely to someone else - put them before his own enjoyment and glory. Because he would have. He would have died for Jack.)

Ignoring the pain in his ribs, Axton slumps onto the bed and closes his eyes. He hopes the rapture comes soon.

 -

The funny thing (to Axton at least) is that they seem to expect Handsome Jack to… try and save him? After all of the conversations about Jack, love and 'how the fuck does Axton think this will end?', they still expect Jack to make the ransom call.

He doesn’t. Axton knows he won’t ever.

Handsome Jack has already shown how he pays ransoms and anyway, he should expect better of Axton.

Axton isn’t some helpless lackey after all. He’s the only person who can stand up to Jack and survive (Hell, be allowed to repeatedly).

 -

"You want to - you expect us to just let you -" Brick is so angry he can't even get the sentence out.

Handsome Jack sounds perfectly happy as he says "Yes yes how dare I make demands when I have all the bargaining chips. Or do you not want to know what's happening to your dear Siren?"

"Fuck. I'll go get him. But you gotta let us talk to her right!" Mordecai is desperate to know that Lilith is still alive. If she's alive there's hope.

 -

Axton doesn't say a word when he's dragged from the cell. He doesn't make an effort to stand or walk, just let's himself be dragged.

The most they get from him is a hitched exhale and a wince when they shove him into the seat at the table in front of his echo device.

"Okay. He's here. Now let us know she's okay." Brick growls.

There is the crackling silence from the echo unit and Axton stares blankly at it - not understanding.

"If you've cut out his tongue I'll actually pay you because you'll have saved me from his stupid fucking bandit songs." Jack doesn't quite manage his normal calm and charismatic tone of voice; the faint waiver and unsubtle clearing of his throat give him away to everyone and that fucking floors most of the room.

' _Well the screen door was hanging from the bottom hinge,_

_and the windows were blackened by fire,_

_On the porch lay the body of a greyhound_

_At the Lonesome Road Coffee Lounge_ ’

"Oh fuck me. I changed my mind keep him I don't fucking want him!" Jack yells over the soft hoarse singing.

Axton just keeps it up, slow and mournful. He doesn't have any other words, can't ask what is going on why jack is there why he sounds so happy how can he when Angel... When Angel is...

His voice falters and shudders out a breath, unable to sing past ‘ _Well you said you needed me to help you,_

_Said I was the only one could make things right._ ’

"Axton." Jack's voice has lost the thread of humour and is so fucking commanding that no one wants to miss the next words. Jack's voice is so quiet it borders on soft, "You and I are gunna have a hell of a talk when you get back. You always give in to her demands."

"Someone's gotta spoil her. Had to. Fuck. " His voice cracks painfully and Axton crumples inwards, shoulders hunching.

"Remember -” The word seems to leave Jack before he can fully grasp the sentence, and he ends up repeating “Remember, your three promises? What you said?"

“Yeah.” ('I will never lie to you. You can trust nothing and no one else but know this. I will **never** lie to you.' / ' 'm gunna kill her. 'm gunna put a knife in her neck and watch as she realised she fucked up not killing me first. I swear it.' / 'Goddamn Jack, she's amazing. I swear you won't regret making me her godfather. I'll protect her, I'll do what's best for her. Promise.')

“And I said back you’ve only gotta do one thing for me.” ('If you lie to me I'll kill you. I don't care about anything else you say or do, as long as you. Never. Lie.')

“Yeah.” Axton is nodding, his whole body almost shaking and everyone else in the room is so far past confused.

“You haven’t broken any of those promises yet.”

The Echo clicks silent; a call disconnected suddenly, but Axton is gasping, bound hands held over his eyes as he cries and shakes.

 -

They drag him back to his cell and leave him alone. He isn't sure if it's because they are clinging to the last vestiges of friendship or if he really makes such a pathetic picture; hiccuped laughter and a shake that seems to have taken up resistance in his body and brain.

If they had been smart (if Jack hadn't killed Roland and captured Lilith ) then they would have known the best time to get any information from him is now.

It would be a confused jumble of layouts, guard rotations, Jack's favourite food, the name of the first person he killed, the song he used to sing to Angel when she couldn't sleep, the location of the vault, how to strip and rebuild a turret and more importantly, that Handsome Jack does not do ransoms.

The shake in his hands settles as he sits upright on the steel frame bed, back propped against the cold mouldy concrete.

' _Nothing to be done about the concussion_ ,' he thinks, ' _But I can sort some of the rest out_.' He moves in a detached manner that is born three parts from battlefield triage and one part complete disassociation from the situation.

His left ankle isn't broken, but at best is sprained (or worse, he's torn his achilles heel) but he's definitely done something bad to the right toes. He doesn't take the boot off that foot in fear he'll find detached toes or something that needs pressure kept on and at least the boot is keeping everything in place right now.

There's jackshit to be done about the cracked ribs and all in all the only thing he can do is to clean blood off his face and tear some strips off his under - shirt to bandage the reopened wounds.

Jack didn't seem to be angry.

He doubts that this is because Jack has realised Angel's imprisonment was wrong and antiquated. Or that Angel wanted freedom and would have done anything to escape. Even dying.

Axton really fucking doubts it's because Jack has realised a hitherto unknown love for Axton that will drive him to make a daring rescue attempt  (the thought of which has him wheezing on laughter again, trying and failing to not jostle his ribs).

Maybe Jack wants to lull him into a sense of false security before snapping his neck like he had the dying skag pup all those years ago. Jack could want to kill Axton himself.

Honestly, he doesn't know why Jack isn't angry.

Jack said Axton hasn't broken any of the promises which implies... well it implies something he can't quite bring himself to believe. He needs to get out and see this for himself; have the physical proof.

A wicked migraine has cropped up across his head and Axton drops himself onto the 'bed' with an arm slung across his eyes to block out the grubby yellow light from the ceiling.

He will need a few days - maybe even a week to regain some strength before he puts into practice a plan he's only used once before (It failed the first time all those years ago. Axton blames Jack because who the hell calls someone they know is being held as a prisoner of war. Jack maintains it was simply bad timing and that maybe Axton shouldn't answer an echo if he's trying to stealth escape).

The throbbing in his head synchronises with the thud of his heart and it lulls into a semi sleep - like state.

Maybe they'll let him speak to Jack again. It would be nice to know where he will go; back to Helios, or Lynchwood or more realistically off - world.

" _I put your painful secret in the ground_

_Beneath the Lonesome Road Coffee Lounge._ "

 -

The cell will be easy to break out from, but everything that comes after will be harder.

Axton muses about how he will escape from a giant flying city of without being seen and with as few casualties as possible. He may not like the resistance but he doesn't want to kill more than he has to; their lives will be over soon anyway and it'd be better to let them spend time with those they love.

 It's that sort of twisted sentimentality that Jack has tried to break in him since the pup when they were young.

 "Would be a lot easier if you'd given me that fucking fob - watch you ass." He murmurs, thinking about Jack's nifty invisibility device. He can't go ninja like Zer0 either and given his size and less than stellar scores in stealth training, he seriously doubts he'll get away without being seen.

 ' _Well fuck_.' He thinks as he reaches over to roll the material of his jacket sleeve until it hits the edge of the built in armour plating around the elbow that reaches all the way up to his shoulder and down across his back. Then he carefully works his hand into the pockets sewn into the armour.

He pulls out his holy grail last fucking chance plan; a small box, not even half the size of his hand.

It was a 'present' from Jack when Jack first got the job in Hyperion. A test of how small they could make turrets before they became unfeasible and useless.

The little turret can't do a quarter of things his mains can, but they were confiscated immediately.

Besides the little beauty can still do a hell of a lot of damage and will certainly cause a distraction.

He just hopes it will be enough for him to get to the Fast Travel station.

 -

He lands in Lynchwood worse for wear.

The little turret had done an amazing job of keeping most of the fire away from him but Mordecai is a great shot and he managed to fucking nail him in the square hole where the turret used to be.

 Axton can't even move the arm any more; his shoulder screaming agony at him if he tries to do something as simple as flex his hand.

 The Station Master sees him and scrambles for the radio. Instead of being a dumb-ass in need of shooting, the old man broadcasts "Axton's back and for the love of God don't shoot less you want to die sobbin'."

Axton nods at the man and shuffles out into the desert air. He basks in the sun on his face; it feels like weeks since he last felt warm. It may well have been as he has no idea how long he had been in the tender mercy of the Resistance as the days blur together without any natural light and who knows how long he had been unconscious for in the beginning.

 The high street is deserted, but Axton can feel eyes watching him as he trudges past barricaded doors and windows. He keeps a marching pace because honestly he thinks if he lets himself falter or slow down he might just collapse. So he clings to the beat of the march and aims in the direction of west-town and he building he claimed as his a long time ago.

 The whir of a turret swivelling around to aim at the door as he opens it is a blessed sound because he knows it means no one has been inside. The turret recognises him and moves back to a neutral position as Axton staggers past.

In the relative safety of his building, he can really feel the weariness and pain catching up to him. He makes it to the back room, where there are no windows and he can always see the door. The bed creaks as he sits on it, but he leans over to the duffle bag under the bed, from which he pulls a first aid kit. The process of digging the bullets out of his leg and shoulder takes even longer than normal because of how bad his hands are shaking and how his eyesight keeps fading. He wraps bandages around the bloody wound and guiding the needle of the health injector into his wrist.

The rush of healing fluid tingles up his arm and he thinks his heart skips a beat when it finally gets the kick to actually pump blood properly again.

As he lists sideways to lie on the bed, he slides his good hand under the pillow to draw out Nisha 's pistol and a spare axe. Only then does he let himself fall unconscious, actually feeling safe for the first time in a long time.

 -

"Either you're dead and that's why they won't let me talk to you or you actually did something right and escaped. If it's the later then we really need to have a chat about ignoring me."

Axton fumbles for the Echo unit and mumbles "Jack?"

"Well shit Kiddo, what the fuck are you doing in Lynchwood?!" It a to be a dream because how else would Jack know he's in Lynchwood. Axton smiles; this is a nice dream to have.

He manages a noise that isn't quite a groan but is close enough that Jack goes oddly quiet.

"Couldn't jump to Helios. Injured. Needed to -" He stops to cough, throat sore from lack of water, "Had to get somewhere I knew was stocked."

Jack doesn't answer and Axton wonders in a detached, not at all awake manner, if this maybe isn't a dream.

It must be though, because he thinks Jack just said that he'd come and get him. That would be a sight; Jack striding through the dust of Lynchwood to drag Axton's broken body back home.

Jack won't though. He's never step foot on Pandora apart for two things: the Vault and Angel. Axton doesn't make the list. He never has.

He fades away again with the odd hope that he programmed the turret to not shoot Jack.

 

\---

(Then)

 The winter nights were a special kind of punishment.

The cold wasn’t something that slowly crept in and took residence, but instead it _burned_ all parts of your being. The only feeling it brought was pain and then the pain moved, eating away at another part and it wasn’t a good thing, it just meant the numb part was dead - frost bitten.

There wasn’t even any snow. It was too cold for the clouds to form so the world around froze like a mocking picture; sure you could see the desert landscape and remember the warmth but nothing survived the night.

The two teenagers huddled together knew they would survive. They had to because you couldn’t get revenge on someone when you were dead. The desire to stay alive had long since removed any concept of shame between the two teens and though neither liked being touched, they were pressed up against each other trying to preserve warmth.

“‘m gunna kill her.” Axton mumbled, tongue heavy in his dry mouth, teeth no longer chattering at the frozen inhaled air. “‘m gunna put a knife in her neck and watch as she realised she fucked up not killing me first. I swear it.”

Jack didn’t say anything for the longest time; something Axton was used to. Jack carefully planned his words, never let anything slip he didn't want to.

When Jack spoke it was almost without the chattering of the cold, “I’ll leave her. Stick her out of sight and mind. Abandon her. But when I’m having the worst day, I'll kill her. A special treat for myself.”

Axton shook their joined hands; a mockery of a sealed deal. “Might have fuck all of everythin’ else, but at least we got these promises.”

That startled a pained wisp of a laugh from Jack “You and your stupid promises. No one gives a fuck if you keep your word or not.”

The noise Axton made was more of a death-rattle than a laugh, “Jus’ you wait. One day you’ll figure it out.”

“So I’m the only one you’ll ever be honest with? Kiddo I’ll stick a knife in your back the first chance I get.” Jack didn't let go of Axton’s hand, didn't pull away from the younger boy’s shoulder, didn't even try to untangle their legs.

Axton’s head dropped onto Jack’s shoulder and his voice was muffled by the blankets they stole and says, “Sure thing. Sucks I speak your language huh?”

Jack didn't respond until the younger was asleep. “The only person I can trust to always tell me the truth. Sounds good.” He fell into sleep, an arm slung around Axton to keep them close as the night crawled past.

 -

 

 (Still then)

 Axton didn’t know what to say. He’d spent nearly three days with the girl on Elpis, exploring, camping and Axton teaching her all kind of inappropriate songs.

But that meant nothing when he was confronted with Jack, who was sitting in his quarters looking more defeated that Axton had ever imagined possible.

Axton broke the silence to put a hand on Jack’s shoulder, “She’s a good kid.”

Jack choked a laugh, “Not really. A hellion on a good day.” His hands balled into fists as he turned to look at his longest and most faithful friend. “She can’t control her powers. It’s getting worse and all that seems to help is this eridium stuff.”

“What you gunna do?”

Jack shook his head and rubbed his hands through his hair, “I don’t know! I keep thinking, if I can just get her a constant supply maybe it would… I don’t know!”

With a sigh, Axton dropped into the space next to Jack, the two men sitting shoulder to shoulder, staring at the wall. “Listen up Jack ‘cause I ain’t saying it again. You are a fucking genius. And you love her. So you do what you got to.”

The laugh that escaped Jack told Axton that he had said the right thing.

“If nothing else, I’ll save her from your terrible names and those god-awful bandit songs you’ve been teaching her.”

Axton shoved Jack, “Don’t you go dissing my singing!”

Jack laughed quietly, and looked at the ring around Axton’s neck. “So. You going to actually stick around now or what?”

“Ain’t quite ready for another job yet.” Axton answered quietly, knowing the answer wasn’t what Jack wanted to hear. It was an age old conversation, but this time Axton just wanted some freedom. Life as a soldier had been so rigid and stifling he needed to be free and without burdens for a while. “Gonna kick around on Pandora. See why you’re so damn interested in the place. Figure I’ll work my way back up here eventually though.”

 

[End Chapter Four]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd say I have a good reason for not posting in such a long time but honestly I just have been really struggling with this and this last chapter.
> 
> My bad.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is an AU that follows the events of the game, just with one kind of big important difference.  
> (No not just that Axton spends most of his time singing Graveyard Train songs)
> 
> Find me on tumblr [here](http://bennylucerne.tumblr.com/) !


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